Obama’s News Police

My article in today’s FrontPage magazine: Obama’s News Police By Matthew Vadum The Obama administration is planning to send what critics characterize as government spies into the newsrooms of the nation’s media outlets. This unprecedented assault on Americans’ First Amendment freedoms is part of the Community Organizer-in-Chief’s political war against the few pockets of media resistance he has encountered at Fox News and in the world of talk radio. Sending federal bureaucrats to meddle in newsroom affairs by conducting an alleged “study” will chill news coverage and make government-licensed broadcast media think twice about airing stories that place the Obama … Continue reading Obama’s News Police

You Subsidize Leftist Anarchy

My column in today’s American Thinker: You Subsidize Leftist Anarchy By Matthew Vadum You have been subsidizing the efforts of radical left-wing community organizers for years, and you probably didn’t even know it. Fifty years ago as Barack Hussein Obama inhaled the values of his communist parents, grandparents, and mentors, their comrades were drafting plans to destroy American civil society. Armed with your parents’ and grandparents’ tax dollars, America-hating extremists Richard Cloward, Frances Fox Piven, and Saul Alinsky were hard at work in the 1960s laying the foundation to wreak havoc on America and its people in an effort to force … Continue reading You Subsidize Leftist Anarchy

Ukraine Bleeding

My article in today’s FrontPage magazine: Ukraine Bleeding By Matthew Vadum Parts of the Ukrainian capital were on fire last night as protesters battled security forces of that nation’s repressive government — months after it announced Ukraine would align itself with Russia instead of the European Union. After a late-night pow-wow with opposition figures Vitaly Klitschko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych blamed the violent episodes on opposition leaders, but added that it was still “not too late to stop the conflict.” Activists took over City Hall in Kiev yesterday and anti-riot police moved into Independence Square. BBC reports that at … Continue reading Ukraine Bleeding

MSNBC’s “The conservative case to limit voting”

I have no beef with MSNBC.com reporter Zachary Roth. He quotes me accurately in today’s piece, “The conservative case to limit voting.” But the assumptions underlying the article are in my view wrong. Roth writes: Progressives think of voting as a right. It’s the way a society of equals makes decisions. That’s why progressives generally see bringing new voters into the process as a good thing in itself. The more people involved, the more democratic the process, and the more legitimate the outcome. Well, I’m not sure that conservatives have a uniform position on voting and elections but I think it’s … Continue reading MSNBC’s “The conservative case to limit voting”

Showdown in Caracas

My article in today’s FrontPage magazine: Showdown in Caracas By Matthew Vadum In a move that almost guarantees violent clashes, Venezuela’s increasingly nervous Marxist caudillo is calling for his supporters to take to the streets Tuesday to combat a large planned march by that oil-rich nation’s opposition. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is asking his allies, including state employees, to demonstrate in force against Leopoldo Lopez, leader of the opposition party, Popular Will (Voluntad Popular). Lopez, who has been accused by Maduro of inciting violence, asked Venezuelans to dress in white and march alongside him, daring authorities to arrest him. Opposition Governor Henrique … Continue reading Showdown in Caracas

Goodbye, Eric Holder?

My FrontPage magazine article today: Goodbye, Eric Holder? By Matthew Vadum   Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder told the New Yorker magazine he plans to step down from his post later this year, but a Holder spokesman now denies he made any such commitment. It’s just another confusing day in the increasingly chaotic Obama administration, where, as the president’s approval ratings continue to fall, the left hand never quite seems to know what the extreme-left hand is doing. In an interview that appears in the New Yorker’s Feb. 17 issue, Holder told Jeffrey Toobin that he intends to remain in his position “well into” the … Continue reading Goodbye, Eric Holder?

Robert Reich’s Revolutionary Rants

My article in today’s FrontPage Magazine: Robert Reich’s Revolutionary Rants By Matthew Vadum To distract from Barack Obama’s failing presidency and the misery it is causing millions of Americans, leftist gadfly Robert Reich is wheeling out tired old paranoid rhetoric about class warfare and “inequality.” Using language out of the Communist Manifesto, Reich inveighs against an invisible, cartoonish, Monopoly Man-type villain. Of course, Reich has no interest in talking about the vicious war that President Obama and his allies are waging against productive members of society, those who have affordable health insurance, and those who pay the taxes used up by … Continue reading Robert Reich’s Revolutionary Rants

Republican Leaders Fight Back Against IRS Power Grab

My article in today’s FrontPage Magazine:  Republican Leaders Fight Back Against IRS Power Grab By Matthew Vadum Republicans are fighting back against proposed new IRS rules that they say would make formal the tax agency’s infamous crackdown on Tea Party groups that oppose the Obama agenda, stripping them of their free speech rights during election cycles. “Every American needs to know about this abuse of power,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said in a recent speech on the Senate floor. “Let me be clear: What the administration is proposing poses a grave threat to the ability of ordinary Americans … Continue reading Republican Leaders Fight Back Against IRS Power Grab

Memo to Conservatives: Republicans Aren’t Your Friends

My article from today’s American Thinker: Memo to Conservatives: Republicans Aren’t Your Friends By Matthew Vadum One of the reasons the national Republican Party is such a mess is because Republicans are far too reluctant to criticize their own. Republicans are nice people.  Too many Republicans think it’s wrong to criticize other Republicans. This failure to be forthright has had consequences.  It has allowed the Republican Party to take up political space it has no business occupying as it embraces left-wing statist tyranny.  Much of the time, the GOP is merely Democrat-lite. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) … Continue reading Memo to Conservatives: Republicans Aren’t Your Friends

Hate email from someone of diminished capacity

Apparently unemployed computer guy Forrest Trenholm of Weymouth, Mass., didn’t like my appearance on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on Wednesday (Feb. 5, 2014). It’s not entirely clear what he was objecting to since he was incapable of explaining himself properly but I thought the email was amusing so here it is: Forrest Trenholm ftrenholm@comcast.net 7:20 PM (16 hours ago) Listen to yourself on the Daily Show, imbecilic and disgusting. Don’t tell me, they took things out of context, or re-edited. Look at yourself, you are a Pig. Start your own Country and get the fuck out of Ours, … Continue reading Hate email from someone of diminished capacity

Matthew Vadum on The Daily Show last night

I was on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” last night discussing national political organizations getting involved in local political fights. For some reason I was labeled a “political insider” on the chyron (see above screen grab), which is definitely not a label I would self-apply. Here is the video clip from yesterday: The Daily Show Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook My appearance was written up by The Week, Huffington Post, and CNN. This was my second appearance on “The Daily Show.” I was previously on the show on Oct. 30, 2008. Continue reading Matthew Vadum on The Daily Show last night

ObamaCare’s Economic Destruction Exposed

My article from today’s FrontPage Magazine: ObamaCare’s Economic Destruction Exposed By Matthew Vadum A new government study projects that Obamacare will kill 2 million full-time American jobs in 2017, confirming the approaching economic devastation about which the budget-busting program’s critics have warned for years. The study came as Obama administration allies unveiled plans to saturate the airwaves with animal videos in a bid to dupe young women into signing up for the failing government program. As the government report shows, contrary to the promises of President Obama, the Obamacare law will boot people out of their health care plans, encourage … Continue reading ObamaCare’s Economic Destruction Exposed

D’Souza’s Indictment and Double Standards

My article from today’s FrontPage Magazine: Dinesh D’Souza with Matthew Vadum, 2007. D’Souza’s Indictment and Double Standards By Matthew Vadum The Obama administration’s indictment of critic Dinesh D’Souza on campaign finance law violations is a reminder that it’s dangerous to be in the opposition when the president is a lawless strongman who knows the media will protect him no matter what. Democratic malefactors remained at large on Friday as D’Souza pleaded not guilty to charges that he directed two individuals to each make $10,000 donations to the campaign of Wendy Long, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, on the understanding … Continue reading D’Souza’s Indictment and Double Standards

Al Qaeda In Jerusalem

My article from the Jan. 23, 2014 FrontPage Magazine: Al Qaeda In Jerusalem By Matthew Vadum Israeli security forces have shut down a massive al-Qaeda plot coordinated by terrorist mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri that involved attacking the Jerusalem Convention Center and the American embassy in the diplomatic center of Tel Aviv. This is believed to be the first time that al-Qaeda chief al-Zawahiri has gotten personally involved in engineering strikes within Israel. The foiled plot is a sobering reminder that al-Qaeda has been experiencing a comeback in the Obama era. Weeks before the November 2012 election Obama bragged, “al-Qaeda is on the path … Continue reading Al Qaeda In Jerusalem

Schumer’s Plan to Abolish the Tea Party

My article from today’s American Thinker: Schumer’s Plan to Abolish the Tea Party By Matthew Vadum The Democrats’ new much-vaunted master plan for annihilating the Tea Party movement calls for aggressive class warfare, demagoguery, and lying about the beliefs, motives, and goals of Tea Party supporters, Sen. Chuck Schumer revealed yesterday. Echoing President Obama’s infamous “bitter clingers” remarks, the New York Democrat argued that Tea Party supporters are cartoonish figures who are easily ridiculed. Invoking all the usual liberal cliches about conservatives, Schumer said the Tea Party is successor to “the Know-Nothings, Prohibitionists, Father Coughlin, and Huey Long.” In other words, … Continue reading Schumer’s Plan to Abolish the Tea Party

Putin’s Showdown With Terror

My article in today’s FrontPage Magazine: Putin’s Showdown With Terror By Matthew Vadum Russian President Vladimir Putin is augmenting security for the upcoming Winter Olympics in southern Russia in the hope of preventing possible Islamic terrorist attacks at the international sporting event. Putin tried to reassure Russian media that visitors will be safe at the Olympics that will take place from Feb. 6 through Feb. 23 in Sochi in the Caucusus mountains in the region of Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea, not too far from Russia’s land border with Georgia. Islamists have already threatened to attack the games and … Continue reading Putin’s Showdown With Terror

Democratic Exodus

My article from the Jan. 17, 2014 issue of FrontPage Magazine: Democratic Exodus By Matthew Vadum Terrified Democratic lawmakers are retiring in droves because they know it won’t be easy to survive the anti-establishment electoral tsunami expected to swamp Capitol Hill in November. Democrats have every reason to feel depressed about the approaching midterm elections, according to famed psephologist and prognosticator Larry Sabato. This will probably be “a good election year for the GOP,” Sabato says. Rattling off the main factors that appear to be driving this election cycle, Sabato opined, The president is a Democrat and his approval is weak. The … Continue reading Democratic Exodus

Will SCOTUS Reverse Obama’s Recess Appointment Power Grab?

My article from today’s FrontPage Magazine: Will SCOTUS Reverse Obama’s Recess Appointment Power Grab? By Matthew Vadum Speculation is running rampant in the nation’s capital that the Supreme Court is poised to strike down three purported recess appointments that President Obama used to unconstitutionally manipulate federal labor relations policy. During oral arguments in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning on Monday, the justices seemed uncomfortable with Obama’s Jan. 4, 2012 overreach in which he recess-appointed three members to the NLRB without bothering to wait for the U.S. Senate to recess. Obama’s goal was to pack the under-staffed federal body with likeminded leftists and give … Continue reading Will SCOTUS Reverse Obama’s Recess Appointment Power Grab?

The War on Poverty’s Biggest Casualties

My article from the Jan. 10, 2014 issue of FrontPage Magazine: The War on Poverty’s Biggest Casualties By Matthew Vadum Fifty years after liberals launched their sacrosanct “War on Poverty,” Americans, and black Americans in particular, aren’t better off. But neo-Marxist ideologue that he is, President Obama is determined to double-down on leftist failure, widening the so-called war by calling for the biggest welfare spending increases in American history— amounting to more than $10 trillion over a decade, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector. This War on Poverty that Obama wants to escalate came on the heels of the … Continue reading The War on Poverty’s Biggest Casualties